At the moment I’m a big fan of comparatively upbeat closing tracks that follow a run of dark/low-key/intense songs. Even if the lyrics remain foreboding, the overall effect is still like sunshine after a storm. Examples can be found on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, Nick Cave’s Skeleton Tree and to a lesser extent, The Cure’s Disintegration.
So what’s YOUR favourite type of closing track?
All about the narrative flow of the album really. Donne Darko by Let’s Eat Grandma somehow traverses Epic Showstopper, Proggy side-long track, and finishes on a low-key downer moment and is probably my #closerof2018
Big fan of a penultimate track being the big climax, then a sort of epilogue final track. Like a glow on black sheep boy, reservations on Yankee Hotel foxtrot, or I went to the store one day on I love you honeybear.
Tenderness on the new parquet courts might be my favourite song atm
This should be a poll BUT
I’ll take options A mixed in with B please
If a hit single is the final track you’ve done the tracklisting very wrong imo. Are there many examples of this? EDUCATE ME, DIS
The Human League - Dare. Don’t You Want Me is the final track.
Talking Heads - Little Creatures. The last track is The Road To Nowhere
GREAT shout with that Oceansize.
I also like it when the entire latter half of an album feels like a gradual comedown. Like Sigur Ros’s Takk, Deathcab’s Plans…
Two headed boy pt. 2 is another good example, and one of the best closers of any album ever imo
Albums that end with looooooooong fake interviews:
To Pimp A Butterfly
Letting Off The Happiness
…any more?
In fact Wood/Water by Promise Ring does this well and I always remember it cos I remember being irked by the pitchfork review which completely misses the point of epic track into quiet closer:
‘TPR even fail to recognize the finality and place of such Epic Songs on Big Albums and tack on another meaningless solo guitar tune afterwards’
(yes I did just go and google it - irked)
Not sure it’s really soft enough to fit into this thing but putting the dog to sleep on burst apart is so fucking good it needs a mention itt
I often think when reading reviews - not just in Pitchfork - “does this person actually like music?”
Long and epic slowburners that leave you feeling exhausted and exhilarated:
Yo La Tengo - Night falls on Hoboken - 17 minutes of wonderfulness
Let’s Eat Grandma - Donnie Darko - 11 minutes of uplift, starts quiet and then builds and builds
Lift To Experience - Into The Storm - 10 minutes of squall
Swervedriver - Never Lose That Feeling - 12 minutes of shoegaze and jazz skronk (!)
Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea - 20 minutes of arsing about
Engineers - One In Seven - 8 minutes of lovely building shoegaze
That, or transcendental beauty. Good if it builds to an, ahem, climax.
One of those two anyway.
Most of the time should prob just be the last track on the album. If it’s stylistically different from the rest or throwaway then secret track is prob best.
Second shoutout for Let’s Eat Grandma in this thread. I will have to check it out.
And hello, fellow Engineers fan!
To add to your list:
Wild Beasts - End Comes Too Soon
The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray/European Son